Wake Up With Calvin and Hobbes

Schools are reopening in my area today, either with students reporting or doing remote learning for a couple of weeks or so. Which seems like a good excuse to so sort of “Wake Up With ...” theme week about going  back to school.

It’s hard to process now, but there was a time before newspapers died when reading the comics was a part of just about everyone’s day. And the last truly great comic strip was “Calvin and Hobbes” by Bill Watterson. It worked on so many levels. Not just funny, but clever, original and, dare I say, even poignant. And timeless. I bought a “Calvin and Hobbes” book for my son when he was about 11 and he devoured it. I’ve read that Watterson turned down tens of millions he could’ve made selling merchandise of his creation, especially the Hobbes plush toys that would’ve been a natural seller, because he wanted to leave it ambiguous as to whether he’ a stuffed animal who only lives in Calvin’s imagination or a real tiger. Which is why you really only see either of them in knock off merchandise, typically pissing on an automaker’s logo on the back of rednecks’ vehicles.

Anyway, Calvin’s school experiences were pretty much mine. Welcome back, kids.